MSc (Nursing), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

en_US

dc.description.abstract

Nurses working with critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs) have a unique
role to play in health care. They spend 24 hours with patients and come into contact with
all the disciplines which come to review these patients. Nurses therefore need to
effectively collaborate with the multidisciplinary teams, especially physicians, in order to
meet patients’ needs and maximise patient care outcomes. The purpose of this study was
to identify and describe nurses’ perceptions towards nurse-physician collaboration in the
intensive care units. A non experimental descriptive study design was utilised in this
study. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed from the Jefferson Scale of
Attitude toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration with additional two open-ended questions
to cover the rest of the study objectives. Data were analysed using descriptive and
inferential statistics as well as content analysis.
Results showed that nurses working in Intensive Care units (ICUs) had positive attitude
towards nurse-physician collaboration regardless of gender, years of working in the ICUs
and whether registered intensive critical care nurse or not. The findings also showed that
nurses perceive that the process of nurse-physician collaboration in Intensive Care Units
provokes a number of challenges, such as superior-subordinate relationships which exist
between nurses and physicians, workload and overlapping responsibilities hence, nurses
feel inferior, undermined, mostly overwork and become frustrated. However, nurses
suggested that promoting team-work; a focus on patient-centered care and staff
motivation would assist in creating effective collaborative environment.
collaborative environment

en_US

dc.language.iso

en

en_US

dc.subject

perception

en_US

dc.subject

nurse-physician collaboration

en_US

dc.subject

team collaborative environment

en_US

dc.title

Nurses' perceptions of nurse-physician collaboration in the intensive care units of a public sector hospital in Johannesburg